Forgiveness

...There seems to be a bit of confusion in the world regarding the nature of forgiveness, and the crucial difference between the word forgiveness and the word 'condone.' Just as one must never equate the word religion with the word 'God', so one must beware of assuming that forgiving someone for a real or imagined slight is the same as condoning that slight. Forgiveness is foremost a requirement for emotional healing of oneself, and has nothing to do with the perpetrator of the supposed transgression. . We are all self responsible for the emotional choices we make and all of those choices are self affecting. Forgiveness in each of us comes from a place of humility and unconditional love and acceptance. It is a relinquishing of blame and anger and victim hood, to be replaced by inner peace and love-and trusting that it is better to live in joy than bitterness.  That does not mean that we agree with the supposed transgression, only that we choose not to live in the past and let it negatively affect our present and future. Personally, I have found that safely and fully expressing whatever sorrow or anger one feels at the time of the injury-which might take months or years-is far better than suppressing it, for eventually the emotional bucket empties, and one moves on in life stronger and wiser.

Artists

Kenny has been on spring break for the past week, and out of town for most of that time-to the occasional frustration of Beth and myself...He missed eye and doctor appointments through negligence while having fun with his friends...But he walked in a few minutes ago and grabbed a quick shower, then sat in the kitchen chair surrounded by his college stuff and played a song on his guitar as he waited for a friend to pick him up for one last hour of freedom before heading back to school. I was in the living room reading a book when he began to sing, and spontaneous tears came to my eyes as I listened to his voice. I could not help admonishing myself for my impatience with his lack of practical thought as the notes reminded me that music is his gift and I must never forget that. So I said a prayer that he may find his way in a world that has little room for artists and dreamers, regardless of how talented they may be. I suspect that as he matures, and struggles to nurture his creative spark while earning a living, Kenny will decide to get really serious about his music, at which point his unique gifts will be unleashed. 

Chelsea

Chelsea had a haircut yesterday...Is this the same dog? Yep!

Still Winter

As much of the country can attest to, winter is still in full effect, and around here we have had snow on the ground much of the time since before Thanksgiving. The weather channel just reported that Syracuse, NY has not seen a day of full sun since October... yet in Warren I've noticed that we have had more sunny days,  so it's been a cold season but not particularly unpleasant to my senses. Above we see Beth and I on a hike in the woods a few miles from home and also the Conewango river, which still shows extensive ice. The long term forecast is for above freezing temperatures, so I think spring is finally beginning to arrive..!?

Ramblings

              The first pic shows the cold snap that has affected the country this past week..The dashboard thermometer read -8 yesterday morning the 7th, so the Subaru was a little sluggish starting. A gas pipe at the humane society(where I work part time) froze and the kennels had no heat all morning, but fortunately all the animals were wearing fur coats, ha,ha...
              The second pic is is a quote from Pope Francis, who in my opinion is the first pope with genuine wisdom in the past twenty years. I recall a pope during the 90's saying something like ' Catholicism is the only way to  God' which is such ignorant drivel that it is no wonder the flock started abandoning the faith in droves...I think the new guy will go a long way towards establishing the true meaning of love and compassion that has slipped from many religions.
POSTSCRIPT: February 12:   -9F in town this morning with people in the mountain valleys reporting -19F and -23F  respectively, which makes last night the coldest of the winter. The high will be 25F however and the ten day forecast predicts a few above freezing temperatures next week. It seems like the entire nation has been affected and overseas England is reporting the worst floods in 250 years...definitely extremes of weather happening...However...The 2014 World Almanac states that only 15 of both the highest and lowest temperatures ever recorded in the U.S. have occurred since 1990. All the other record highs and lows by state were recorded prior to then. That means that 85 of the 100 most extreme high and low temperatures in each of the 50 states occurred before 1990, which offers some perspective on global warming.

Kenny Thrives

;-                After a difficult month of September-for personal reasons-Kenny has settled into an inspirational life of music at Edinboro University...The music department has been downsized and future cuts have been threatened, but for now Kenny says that he is loving his life there, and we can observe the positive impact that his professors are having on him. This picture is from a chorus concert on November 10th, which to my ears was a professional presentation that brought tears to my eyes. As he has been challenged by the fresh new talent around him he has responded by producing the best music we have ever heard him do. In that sense of using and developing his God given talents he is exactly where he should be...If Edinboro can no longer provide musical education he will transfer to another school and is already dreaming of the prestigious universities to the east.
-As for the snow...we woke up to three inches that gave the woods the look and feel of January...Too soon for my tastes but Warren weather can go from short sleeves to icicles in the span of a week, so that's the nature of the town.                                                         

Human Insanity

Readers of this blog know that I occasionally get on my soapbox regarding issues about which people have differing opinions, but I hope that any rational being can agree that the following is absolute lunacy: "The Titan 2 missile carried a a 9 megaton warhead, which is about three times the explosive force of all the bombs dropped during World War 2, including both atomic bombs". Read that sentence again...that is One missile in one silo in 1980, and the devil knows what weapons are out there in 2013. I admit that I am ignorant about the destructive power of our arsenals; such information is not bandied about any more than photos of the wounded in our wars. But I do know that these are choices someone is making to produce and maintain this stuff, and now there are crazies-in the name of God- doing everything they can to acquire them. In 1945 Oppenheimer remarked about the bomb that it brought to mind words from the Bhagavad Gita, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." -so he knew that potential future the moment it occurred. I understand the threat of Nazi Germany that precipitated the development of nuclear weapons, but that same evil may one day have those weapons at it's disposal, and unfortunately, human nature being what it is, a simple accident or unintended consequence could unleash the power when we least expect it. POSTSCRIPT: The United States continues to spend 2 billion dollars a week on the war in Afghanistan, while one billion a year could theoretically educate the five million children there who do not go to school.(..for a little Truth about that war watch the documentary "Dirty Wars" and other work by journalist Jeremy Scahill, currently on Netflix and other places) I guess Americans have grown extremely complacent regarding such obscene, immoral uses of their tax dollars, and sometimes I wonder why...Have we grown so fat and comfortable and self absorbed that we would rather give a guy like Dick Cheney a heart transplant ( $658,000 in 2007 dollars, plus about $21,000 annually in follow up costs) rather than help the uninsured children anywhere to get basic care? Has the lack of a military draft and the censure of the media so detached the average person from the realities of what is going on in our wars that nobody but those directly involved cares? Meanwhile, despite the lowest violent crime rate in 40 years many Americans seem to the think our society is crumbling... There really is so much misinformation and sheer ignorance despite the proliferation of the internet-or perhaps because of it-that I suspect we are so inundated with disposable information that nobody really investigates anything anymore- and if Truth-with a capital T- is discovered, there is so much suspicion and mistrust that even facts are discarded as mere opinion. Our government seems to be run by emotional children backed by self serving money, and we as a nation sit and bitch rather than vote Everyone out and try something new...Does it...will it...has it always taken a crisis to get human beings to change and find different ways to live?...and if so, do we have that the time to procrastinate anymore? Personally, I have written far too many words in my life not to have learned of their ineffectiveness compared to action, yet I keep noticing that even the so called 'poor' have cell phones and fake nails and beer, so what exactly are the priorities this nation is obsessed with?